Toronto, Ontario — Klipsch Group’s Energy brand is bringing flagship-speaker technologies to the next version of its midpriced Connoisseur series, priced up to $500 each, and it’s launching its smallest 5.1 speaker system to date.
The introductions coincide with the launch of a new Web site.
The brand, which focuses on creating accurate-sounding high-value speakers, plans September shipments to specialty dealers of its nine-SKU Connoisseur series of home theater speakers, whose key change is the use of a hyperbolic aluminum-dome tweeter positioned close to a woofer or midrange to act as a single source. The design, said to widen dispersion and reduce lobing effects, is dubbed Convergent Source Module and is used in Energy’s high-end Veritas speaker series.
Connoisseur also incorporates ribbed elliptical surrounds on its woofers to deliver lower distortion and greater output compared to more traditional half-roll surrounds used in competitors’ woofers, the company said. The design also delivers increased excursion and a larger piston area for greater efficiency. Models with multiple woofers use a tapered crossover design to decrease lobing and thus improve the speakers’ dispersion characteristics, Energy added. The series’ surround speaker incorporates a switchable bipole/dipole circuit and second tweeter mounted on top to reflect the sound off the ceiling, allowing for additional placement flexibility, the company said.
All Connoisseur speakers but the surround model feature black-ash finish with high-gloss black baffles. The finish of the surround speaker is all-black ash.
The series includes three towers: the CF-70, CF-50 and CF-30 at suggested retails of $500 each, $400 each and $300 each, respectively. The bookshelf models are priced at $350, $250 and $180/pair. The two center channels are $300 and $200 each, and the surround is $350/pair.
In a new 5.1 speaker package, Energy also used Convergent Source Module driver positioning, incorporating it into the brand’s smallest 5.1 package to date. The RC-Micro home theater is due in September at a suggested $999 for mass and specialty retailers.
Each two-way magnetically shielded speaker is 4.7 inches tall, weighs slightly more than a pound, and features 0.5-inch hyperbolic chambered aluminum-dome tweeter and 2.5-inch h aluminum cone driver. Each driver is mounted in its own chamber to lower resonance, allow higher power handling and eliminate unwanted interaction with each other. Their MDF cabinets feature high-gloss black lacquer finish with built-in keyhole slot and a 0.25-inch 20 threaded insert for wall mounting.
The RC-Micro’s compact 8-inch subwoofer features 240-watt amp, down-firing port and ribbed elliptical surround.
Also new: two compact powered subs, the $800-suggested ESW-M8 and $600-suggested ESW-M6 with furniture-grade high-gloss black finish with seven layers of hand-sanded polyurethane to increase shine and durability. They’re due in October through specialty retailers.
The ESW-M8 features 1,200-watt digital amp and one 8-inch active black-anodized aluminum-cone driver complemented by two 8-inch passive drivers. The ESW-M6 features one active and two passive 6.5-inch black-anodized aluminum-cone drivers with 800-watt digital amp. Ribbed elliptical surround also enhance sonic pleasure, the company said
Both subwoofers feature 50Hz to 200Hz variable low-pass filter with bypass mode, 0 to 360-degree variable phase control and signal-sensing “auto power” feature.
